Should I vote Labour

Another reason to vote Labour.

schoolcuts.org.uk/#/

Put your postcode in to find out the school cuts in your area or your grandchildren's areas.

There really are thousands who find themselves in the same situation as Daniel Blake.

I bet you don't have children to feed or pay childcare while you work, ab. If you have less than £159pw, you shouldn't be paying council tax either.

roses You are absolutely correct. All sorts of people find themselves in dire financial difficulty. I actually wish people would stop using food banks as an example of how poor some people are. They're like putting a small sticking plaster on a gaping wound. The problem is much much deeper, but some people just don't seem to believe it.

I Daniel Blake is fiction?
Tell that to the woman who played one of the DWP officers who is signing on this week.

Eleothan, £159.35 is some way off £400

I, Daniel Blake is fiction , doesn't mean there are not people like Daniel Blake but to claim there are thousands is no different to idiots who watch a programme on obesity and believe all obese people are lazy, tv watching, benefit dependant

Nursing is a profession with a rigorous code of conduct and nurses take responsibility for people's lives. Many hospitals are now understaffed and nurses are having to cover for that.

A couple of years ago I went with my Mum to a day appointment for minor facial plastic surgery. At around 8 a.m. we were greeted at reception by our designated nurse who dealt with all the form-filling, swab-taking, etc., throughout the day. We left at around 6 p.m. and she was still there. At 7.30 p.m. I rang the hospital to ask a question about after care, and was put through to our designated nurse who was unfailingly patient and helpful. I have great respect for nurses, the vast majority of whom are caring and conscientious and who certainly cannot be described as going into the job for the money. I was earning far more as a legal secretary, with none of the attendant long hours, stress and responsibility for people's health and wellbeing. I think it is shameful that over the last few years their pay has, in effect, been reduced by 14%.

Anniebach What sort of rent do you have to pay? Also, are you sure that you are getting what you are entitled to? The Age Concern website says:

"Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level:
£159.35 if you’re single
or £243.25 if you’re a couple.

Savings Credit is extra money if you’ve got some savings or your income is higher than the basic State Pension. It’s only available to people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016. You could get up to:
£13.20 extra per week if you’re single
or £14.90 if you’re a couple."

"Nurses using foodbanks" in no way suggests it's the norm, roses.
Anybody using foodbanks is not the norm. However, people do, nurses do, increasingly so under this government.

"I, Daniel Blake" is out on DVD now. It would do you good to watch it and see how the bottom 20% live.

I find it odd that people on here are criticising Marr for saying that nurses use food banks, but May did not say it was not true.
Perhaps she knows it is.

I don't use food banks and my income is way below £400 pw

No dd I would not be surprised at who uses/had used a food bank as anybody who has personal circumstances that 'take a dive' could be forced into it as a short term measure.

Nurses pay is good, police pay is good ( we have both in the family) it could be better, but public pay had to take a decrease.
What about those earning less than them?
We live in a high rent area but the nurse in the family manages her affairs very well.
I would say again, that you need to know the personal circumstances around any nurse using a food bank as it is not the norm.

Most pensioners could be there queueing then.

Beam
I just want to get this straight. If you earn £21,600 or less a year you can go to a food bank.

gg2 " I think our eight year old could write to say why her swimming club is a good thing without denigrating the (say) netball club and the players in the netball club" Very true, so how is it that a few posters can't write to say why their political party (usually labour or green) without denigrating all others?

Eloethan Yes, I did notice that thatbags' post included the words "I have found . . ." and I would have liked to know where. However, as insults or "rubust comment", the quote is parallel with some of the things posted, quoted, and linked to by others on the political threads, and less personally directed than some.

No, all cleaners wouldn't be using foodbanks. It depends whether they are living with a partner and have dependent children.

I volunteered in a foodbank for two years and I think it would surprise you who uses them, rosesarered.

Andrew Marr himself quoted a decrease of 14% in nurses' pay since 2010. May did not contradict this figure.

Labourites are getting so desperate to discredit the Tories they are becoming embarrassing. I feel like Frankie Howerd.

"No, don't laugh, it's cruel to mock the inflicted."

Everyone's world does not revolve around London

rosesarered The salary scale for fully qualified nurses is £21,692-£28,180. The salary scale for senior nurses is £26,041-£34,876. I realise there is a relatively small "weighting" payment for London and perhaps other cities.

That may be a reasonable salary in some areas of the country. In London (and no doubt other big cities/areas of high employment) the average rented home would take up a large proportion of monthly salary - around £1,400 a month in London) and buying a home is now out of the question for people on these sorts of salaries.

Given that it is not the first time nurses attending food banks has been mentioned, I would have thought May would have had an answer to hand, maybe along the lines that you have suggested - spendrift, irresponsible nurses getting into debt, etc. That might not have been a wise move because it would no doubt be followed up and largely proved to be inaccurate.

So NHS nurses are paid below the living wage ?

They deserve a pay rise but using in food banks? I do not believe it

Further to that dj for once I did look at your links for nurses and found it proved nothing.The Sun had a survey which showed who had applied for a pay day loan, who had used a food bank, who had downsized their house or remortgaged etc.
This could have applied to a person doing almost any job and there was no information as why ( though it did mention personal debt.)

"Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: “The ongoing erosion of nurses’ real-terms pay is unsustainable and puts patient care at risk.

“Nursing staff are struggling to pay the bills, forced to work extra shifts to make ends meet and some are even relying on foodbanks. They have put up with a declining standard of living for six years because of their commitment to caring for their patients, but they can only be stretched so far and we are now in the grips of a recruitment and retention crisis.

“At a time when the gap in earnings between nursing staff and other graduate professions is growing, the 1% pay cap for NHS staff is unsustainable. Trusts are already struggling to recruit, and with an ageing workforce will find it increasingly difficult to persuade nurses to keep working.

“This recommendation is not just about treating staff fairly for the work they are doing. It is about getting a grip on workforce planning in the NHS and helping trusts to recruit and retain the staff they need to provide safe patient care.”

I am concerned for the poor who have to use food banks and have no hope of having over £400 pw to live off ,

dj we cannot know the personal circumstances of anybody who uses a food bank but it is not because nurses are not paid enough.Otherwise all cleaners and low paid workers would be using them too.